1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) sensors and more specifically, to applications and apparatus that use the fused output of sensors covering a multitude of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) spectra to create “Full Spectrum” sensor(s) capable of sensing physical and electromagnetic events in an environment with fixed sensors and body worn sensors.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a need to monitor the environment for safety, creating systems to assist us in daily tasks, provide feedback on our activities to help us improve our lifestyles, and for commercial use of the data related to our events to provide meaningful alternatives and products. There is an ecosystem that is created by sensors, processing of sensor data, transport of the information, and interface devices that allow a user to interact and modify their environment to suite their lifestyle. The general theme of this interaction is to provide a platform for “Comfort Living” using a wide array of technology.
We live in a spectrum of energy from low frequencies, conducted through mechanical movement, to radio frequency and then light. There are many sensors developed by various industries that can receive different parts of the spectrum. While the output from these sensors can be collected and cross correlated to infer events, as individual uncoordinated sensor elements they do not directly report the many important events with a high degree of observational certainty as the events occur in our environment. This is the case whether these events occur in the home, outside, office or retail, or public space.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,085,882 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,295,409 use multiple receivers and fuse the low level signals to improve the signal to noise level sufficiently to be able to classify and demodulate the signal. The limitation being that identical sensors sense identical parts of the spectrum.
Many of today's sensors have the potential for misuse and invasion of privacy so as we increase the collection of data about our environment and personal activities, careful consideration should be made as to the type and appropriate location for these sensors. There are many sensors that create a visual image for surveillance and devices to transmit and record our voices. These sensors produce information that can be directly interpreted with human senses such as sight to understand the events as they occur.